OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical > Setup & Installation

ecs2.2 beta refresh

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Doug Bissett:
Well, I just had an "interesting" install experience. I was messing around with Linux on my Lenovo ThinkPad L530, and really messed up the hard disk. Do NOT try to change partitions with Linux (specifically Linux Mint 16)  :( . Since I really don't have anything on that system anyway, I decided to restore it to "factory default". After I got windows running, and updated, I used windows to shrink the C: drive to about 140 GB. It also has a 1.5 GB windows boot partition, and a 10 GB recovery partition, at the end of the disk. That left a big empty spot in the middle of the disk, so I proceeded to install eCS 2.2 beta II. The disk integrity test failed, so I let it "fix" the problem. Okay, now the disk integrity test is happy, but miniLVM complains about a corrupt partition table, and it will allow no actions.

After using DFSEE (11.4, since that is what I have a CD for), to attempt to fix the problems, I tried again. MiniLVM still saw a corrupt partition table, and would allow no changes.

Back to DFSEE, where I created the partitions that I wanted, with no trouble.

Now, miniLVM is still not happy about the partition table, but it will allow install to the partitions that DFSEE created. It also installed AirBoot.

So, I formatted the eCS volumes, and installed eCS 2.2 beta II.

It does work, but somebody who has never seen eCS before hasn't got a hope of ever getting it installed, without some serious hand holding. The main problem seems to be that miniLVM is not capable of doing the job. Perhaps it needs to be replaced by DFSEE, but that is also far too complicated for a user who has no idea what (s)he is doing.

Dave Yeo:
The problem is that OS/2 is old and particular about partitions starting on cylinder boundries while all other operating systems know that cylinders don't even exist anymore. You used Windows to change partition size and the boundaries ended up wrong. Same with Linux with the added problems that Linux will use the same reserved areas as the OS/2 LVM thus destroying the LVM info.
The advice has always been, only use OS/2 tools to do anything to the partitions except changing the partition ID.
There used to be howtos shipped with Linux including this, http://www.ru.j-npcs.org/usoft/WWW/HOWTO/mini/Linux+DOS+Win95+OS2 and some similar ones. Perhaps it needs updating and included with eCS.

Doug Bissett:

--- Quote ---The problem is that OS/2 is old and particular about partitions starting on cylinder boundries while all other operating systems know that cylinders don't even exist anymore.
--- End quote ---

Well, that isn't quite what I was getting at. My main point was that miniLVM is far to particular, while DFSEE can do the job with no trouble. OS/2 itself (disguised as eCS 2.2) doesn't seem to care, once DFSEE gets the partitions set up.

Linux (Mint 64) somehow got the partition table out of sequence, which DFSEE complained about, but wouldn't fix. It did not destroy LVM info, and eCS was working fine, after it was messed up. I only noticed that there was a problem, when I ran DFSEE. I decided to restore to the default (factory) setup, partly to see what the eCS 2.2 beta II installer would do with it. There were other problems in Win7 PRO anyway. Without DFSEE, it would not be possible to install eCS 2.2 beta II on the Lenovo ThinkPad L530 (and probably most machines with similar setups).

David McKenna:
 Finally got to try this and was able to quickly install on 3 different machines with full functionality: 1 laptop and 2 desktops of various age. I agree with Sigurd's list of Pros and Cons. The one con I would add is no multiple sound streams. Overall it is a good version of eCS and well worth trying out. Thanks Roderick and everyone at Mensys ... and Merry Christmas!

Eugene Tucker:
The eCS 2.2 Beta II install went without a hitch for me.  Runs fine so far.

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